July 2001:

Sunday afternoon John, Guillaume and I went to a museum in Matsumoto that featured ancient Japanese wood-block ink paintings. It had displays that explained how 300 years ago the Japanese were able to mass-produce paintings for the general public. We also learned that up until about 200 years ago, married Japanese women shaved their eyebrows and dyed their teeth black. And people think today's fashions are ugly.

It's been so hot the last couple of days. The thermometer in the cafeteria hasn't dipped below 30ºC all week. The rainy season has ended, only to bring arguably less pleasant weather.

A new intern arrived on Monday. His name is Thomas and he works at Epson in Hirooka. He'll be here until the end of August at which point he will return to his university in Oregon. He has lived in Japan for 2 years before, so his Japanese skills far outdo mine.

Ok, it's here! My write-up of Chris and John's Okinawa Adventure. Photos to come.

Friday night we went out to a Chinese restaurant for a 2-hour-all-you-can-drink-for-1000-yen ($12). It was partly a welcome party for Thomas, and partly an excuse to go out and drink.

Saturday Yukari had a post-wedding party in Ueda, a city about 50km north of Matsumoto. It was an Italian buffet and we met a lot of people, including another Waterloo student.

After Yukari's party, we went out to the Orange Bar, the latest foreigner hang-out. It was their one-year anniversary, but considering all the partying I had done in the last 24 hours, Thomas, Taizo and I decided to take the last train home, while everyone else opted to stay and take a cab.

On Sunday, Guillaume, John, Tommy, myself and two other Japanese went to Kamikochi, a mountain area about an hour's drive from Matsumoto. It was spectacular. We took a one-hour hike along a river of crystal-clear water and through thick forests (it kinda reminded me of Algonquin park, only with mountains). After the hike we went to a rotenburo, an outdoor natural spring. We relaxed there for at least an hour before coming home.

My Okinawa photos are up and so is my Guide to Japanese Food!

Friday night we went over to Yukari's new apartment and ate hand-made gyoza. We also watched Toronto's crushing defeat by Beijing to host the 2008 Olympics. I think Yukari was secretly rooting for Osaka, even though she knew there was no chance.

Sunday John and I were invited to a co-worker's house for dinner and a traditional Japanese tea-ceremony. We had a great time and enjoyed some excellent food. We also watched a Japanese TV show called "The Stinger". It's a reality-game show of sorts. A boyfriend who suspects his girlfriend of infidelity goes on the show and arranges over the phone to meet her for dinner. He then calls and cancels, leaving her stranded. That's when The Stinger takes over. He's a smooth-talker whose ultimate goal is to get this girl back to his apartment, where her boyfriend awaits. He usually succeeds.

On Monday John and I left work early to have a real traditional Japanese Shiatsu massage. Shiatsu means "finger pressure", and as I suspected, does not involve kneecaps. Each of us had a one-hour session, and believe me, we were glad it wasn't any longer. The (male) massager had hands like steel vicegrips (only not as cold). He pressed his thumbs deep into various muscle tissue including legs, armpits and jaw muscles. It hurt a lot, and when it was finished we weren't sure if we felt better or worse than when we got there.

Wow, what a weekend. Thursday was Hilory's birthday party. We went north of Matsumoto to the Toyoshina Viking restaurant. In Japan, Vikings are somehow associated with all-you-can-eat grilled meat.

From Friday to Saturday we climbed up and down Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan. I'll write a Misc Rambling about it as soon as my body recovers from the 11 hour adventure.

It's been upwards of 35ºC all week. It's too hot to sleep and too hot to work, so I wrote about our Adventure on Mount Fuji instead.

Wednesday morning, Hilory, John, Guillaume and I went to Nagano city to get the re-entry permits for our trip to South Korea next month. It will be a week-long trip from Aug 13 to 20, and it will be our last big trip before coming home. That week is a holiday on Japan, called Obon Week. I'm not sure what it's all about yet, but I'll let you know once I do.

Friday night Epson held a nouryousai (literally, a cooling-down festival). It was like a giant picnic for everyone who works at Epson in the area (that's a few hundred people). There were performers and draws for cool prizes (Play Station 2, $2000 travel gift certificates, Epson products, etc). It was fun, and I ran into a good number of drunken Japanese friends whose names I couldn't remember.

After the festivities, we went over to Taizo's apartment to play Risk. Both he and Tomonori were very excited about it, so we brought the game and some beer and played. John won by killing me. Swell.

Saturday we went to an American Short Short film festival in Matsumoto. We saw half a dozen films ranging from 1 to 20 minutes in length. After that we went to Shiojiri for a "festival". It was a very small parade and drum show. They must have played the same two songs over and over for hours. After an hour we had to leave, and went to an all-you-can-eat yakiniku restaurant in Minami Matsumoto for dinner.